Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Artist of the Day: Modern Baseball

If there was a way to summarize Modern Baseball in a neat little sentence that certainly won't do them justice, it's "they're the marriage of the American Football and Long Island pop-punk." This matrimony will certainly sound unpalatable to fans on both sides of the spectrum, but the band's self-awareness and relatively noodly guitar lines will be sure to convert Kinsella disciples while the vocalists, who trade lines frequently, and pounding snare drum will captivate the pop-punkers looking for something a little less whiny, but no less nasally, than they're used too. Some lyrics come off as tacky, like the social media lament "@chl03k" (who after a quick scan of Twitter appears to be worth writing a song about) but others- "Sober or not, I locked everything you sent me, cause what’s better than seeing what I’m missing daily" - are as pained and heart-splitting as you'd expect from one of their song-writing idols, although they lack the unique beauty of a track like "Never Meant." There's nothing intrinsically pretty about Modern Baseball's music, the aesthetic tends more toward Into It. Over It. or another group of that ilk than to a more stereotypical modern emo band like Empire! Empire! but this is part of their charm. The band's youth, all are still in college, manages to shine through in their unique medium and lends them an air of genuine feeling. The emotions are tangible, perhaps moreso because of the less-than-stellar recording than their talent and construction, but you get a general feel for the group quickly: a maudlin quartet with good instincts and a keen ability to blend genres in short bursts (few songs eclipse four minutes long). They may not wow you with technical ability or tenderness, but you will almost certainly feel comfortable listening to them and willing to connect with one side of them or the other.